Art Crime of the Century: £200m of Paintings Could be Forgeries by the ‘Moriarty of the Old Master’

Pictured, David Contemplating the Head of Goliath, Gentileschien.wikipedia.org

A new scandal has rocked the art world, the likes of which have not been seen since the "early Vermeer" scandal of the 1940s. Sotheby’s was recently forced to take back an £8.4 million ‘Frans Hals,’ because it was revealed to be a fake. The paintings in question are Old Masters, said to be by Frans Hals, Lucas Cranach, and others. Few major art figures are willing to speak openly because the scandal is a matter of such embarrassment, but one well-known dealer has described the individual behind the forgeries as the “Moriarty of fakers” because they are so brilliantly constructed.